I agree the problem is a very weak middle for the Allies. Have to play with the Bosporus Strait closed. Generally I like a bid of around 12-17, although I have sometimes beat my friends at 9.

A Russian fighter for the bid helps a lot, you can attack Baltic States and West Russia, and then land them in Egypt, Transjordan (with a tank) and Evenki. You get a pretty big opening, hold the Suez canal, put yourself in position to counter Japan for a single crucial turn, and lay a trap in the Caucasus while stacking W. Russia to receive British fighters. This is nice because it lets you help the British in the beginning but you end up with a Russian fighter, which is the unit which gets the most action in any game, making or breaking a lot of trades and adding a lot of defensive power. Also if you convince Germany to buy navy round 1 then you at least spare Russia through round 5.

Once you get over 15 with the bid you can start doing stupid stuff that totally changes the game… which can be very fun.

I would suggest using the chips instead of redundant pieces as much as possible, and also cutting some cardboard squares (or sheets of paper) that you can move the pieces to for battles, and then simply place the surviving units back on the board. I liked the number circles and corresponding cards that came with the previous game version, so I use those as well for fleets and stacks, but you could make your own quite easily.

I agree with MarineIguana. The only consistent strategy (I have tested a lot of different ones) for the allies on this map is to stack West Russia and pass fighters through it. I would like to add that it really helps/is crucial to get the US in on this. I like to move my fighters from continental US to Canada, and build a fully loaded carrier and destroyer Round 1. Then pass all 4 of these fighters to Iceland, then Wrus (or Moscow if somehow the situation has gotten out of control.)

You also need to pull the British fleet from Canada, India, and Australia together in the South Atlantic ASAP (round 3). This way you can start trading with Germany Round 4. Bombers don’t help fast enough, going after Japan only helps a bit. I do like to take Baltic as the Russians to kill the tank and get the infantry and get a decent income (likely your last). Move the Russian fighter down to Egypt and set up Caucasus as a tank trap. First five rounds as allies are tough, but it’s worth it if you can get the fleets going and you end up with enjoyable gargantuan fighter stacks.

Bid wise I think a British sub in the Mediterranean and Russian ground forces are the most useful. If you can keep Africa and get a good Russian stack going you have a slim chance. I’ve worked KJF before but I think fighter pass is the only decent strategy against a good axis player.

@Private:

I find US bombers SBRing Berlin effective as a swift means of bringing the US to R’s aid. 2 bombers US1 and another each subsequent turn will usually build a sizeable offensive force before Moscow is at risk.

I dunno, bombers you buy on US1 don’t bomb Germany until round 3, and don’t affect German production capacity until G4. I have almost always already built my Russia crushing army by then, and am just buying power units to finish the job, which aren’t affected by strategic bombing as much.

As to the original question of the thread… I love bombers, but I find I never end up bombing as much as I think I will. There’s always something I see coming on my next move that I really want the bomber for and I end up not wanting to risk losing the thing. I do bomb Leningrad as a convenient way to pass British bombers to central Asia though. Sometimes I bomb India with Japan. US is in the best position to build bombers and the worst position to bomb anyone. I find it’s often more valuable to keep a bomber on Alaska than actually use it, just so that japan can’t leave naked transports in home waters.

Bombing Russia with Germany or Japan with U.S. for the slow-but-sure choke is the only time I do full scale strategic bombing.

I have to agree with what other people have said here. A combo of subs and bombers and some good deadzoning will keep the U.S. at bay long enough for you to drain Russia and China, and you can’t take India with those purchases, but you can certainly make sure they don’t advance into Asia for a while.

I think it kinda depends on the bid though. I’ve been playing with a massive bid lately because the map is just broken in my experience… if Germany resists the temptation to drop any money on boats they can reliably wreck Russia even if the Allies are going all out against them. Anyway, with a bid of like 22 the British can absolutely crush sz37 with a pair of additional subs and that can change things a bit. Even so Japan can spend a few bucks on subs and still keep the US at bay (quite literally) long enough to do their part choking Russia. But it’s not worth spending any more money on it after a couple rounds, as you just can’t compete with the constant infusion of carrier decks.

Hadn’t thought of attacking Pearl Harbor honestly, but if the British hit you in sz37 it’s probably a good way to keep your islands longer. Will have to try that.

I just do the most annoying move I can with my navy and expect it to die I suppose, in my mind anything spent naval or Africa is usually a waste, there’s just too many ways for the allies to counter. I don’t wanna let the damn Italians suck me for any more resources than are already sunk.

Taking Gibraltar and pulling the BB out into the open ocean as a surface raider is usually a decent headache for the Allies. If the British go for it than they can’t send fighter support to West Russia, I might even be able to force the Russian stack back, and I get my Baltic transport for another turn without dropping a dime in the water. Plus a BB can really do some dicing.

Sure, the allies could get creative in the Mediterranean in theory, but their money is gonna have to go to Russia if I’m really pushing that hard, y’know? Plus, if I go all bombers or get some subs I can still crush their fleets even if mine is toast, and still wheel hard on Russia.

But all of this depends on how the Russians open her up, sometimes there’s some major naval opportunity–I just haven’t seen it in a while facing my usual nemesis.

Yeah, I usually play allies on this board because I enjoy the logistical challenge, and I will say that the Mediterranean carrier really screws my whole game up. I spend my bid on infantry in Egypt and Trans-Jordan, then I like to stack West Russia, and put a Red fighter on each side of the canal, and leave like 4 infantry in Caucasus as a trap where both of my fighters can swing back for a counter-attack that leaves me consolidated. All of this is so I can get my Indian fleet into the Mediterranean, and be a major pain for Germany, taking back Africa pronto and forcing stackage or trading in the “soft underbelly”–or better yet he attacks the fleet and my fighters on defense work the Luftwaffe and let me drop fleet off the UK earlier.

The carrier in the Mediterranean totally ruins all of that, but it doesn’t usually bother me because I know that I’m looking at that much less pressure on Russia, I like to think of it as a toss-up because I’ve still forced that much investment in there while stymieing any territorial progress it might lead to.

I feel like carriers are for protecting transports, and the single transport in the Mediterranean just never seems worth it, and a second one plus the carrier is just too much money. I feel like with the guys you drop in Africa the first round, keeping it for the second is worth it, but it’s just not the way I like to play Germany. If I see someone trying to pull the same crap I do around the Suez, I’m just gonna build a pair of subs–if I react at all. I’ve beat better men than myself simply heaping the pressure on Russia like I described above.

Now in revised… man I loved that golden handshake. I used to play Axis more on that board, I’m starting to think spending a bid in the Middle East is just too game changing, it totally determines who I like to play, hah!

Generally, I like to keep it dead simple with Germany on this board. Basically, buy a huge stack of infantry and artillery the first round, buy another huge stack the second round, then tanks, then fighters, then bombers. This build order means everything can catch up to slam together, and round 5-7 you have Russia crushed, provided Japan has been doing their job and rapidly bankrupting them in the East, and has lit a fire underneath by capturing India ASAP. Keep the air power in NW Europe and you’ll keep Allied shipping off Britain long enough to get your army out East.

I also have been messing with building all the bombers the first round. Flatten Russia’s economy continuously, keep them in Baltic states and you won’t have to worry about the Western Allies even longer, otherwise it’s the same deal.

Once you’ve built everything you need for the Eastern campaign, it’s just mass infantry and a few guns to hold Berlin and trade for Europe.

You do your best to be obnoxious early on with your fleets, but Africa, the Middle East, even Norway… it doesn’t matter, all that seems to matter is crushing Russia fast enough that you can spend your booty on a defensive wall in Germany. You’re trying to get the British to waste resources defending themselves on the peripheral fronts, not dump more cash in yourself.

As far as openings proper, I just figure out how to annihilate the Royal Navy with optimum efficiency, and I really like the 5-5-5 opening where you stack infantry all along the Eastern front so that Russia can’t trade without losing most of their army, shouldn’t matter to you, Herr Hitler, you’re building a whole new one yourself–faster than they can.

If you keep the pressure on like this you basically dictate the whole flow of the game, and the allies have hardly any room for any funny stuff–they’re gonna need a flock of fighters and flawless logistics to have a prayer.